Rogue Subclass:
The Saboteur
"Ah, him in the cell next door? Always fiddlin’ with bits o’ metal and string, mutterin’ about fuse lengths and pressure valves. Said he could blow the hinges clean off if he had, what was it... his soup bowl and some booze? Heh, right. Though between you an’ me, I seen him do stranger with less. Smart lad, dangerous too... Hells, why’m I tellin’ you this again? I ain’t supposed to be talkin’ to prisoners. Wait a tic... where’d my flask go?"
—A thug, distracted by a prisoner.
Saboteurs are cunning specialists, blending mechanical ingenuity with rogue-like precision. Masters of subterfuge and sabotage, they craft traps for every occasion, whether to confound foes or carve a path to safety. With unparalleled skill in tinkering and improvisation, Saboteurs embody the philosophy: “Any problem can be solved with the right amount of explosives.”
Class Features
| Level | Feature |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Deft Mechanic, Trap Maker |
| 9th | Calculated Insight, Flexible Deployment |
| 13th | Magical charge, Improved Trap Crafting |
| 17th | Last Resort |
Level 3: Deft Mechanic
Your fast fingers are able to work most deftly. You gain the following benefits:
- Mechanic's proficiency: You gain proficiency with Tinker’s Tools.
- Mechanic's cunning: You can use your Cunning Action to interact with any small mechanism, such as picking a lock, disarming a trap, or activating a contraption.
- Mechanic's insight: You can spend 1 minute and materials to craft a one-use item to help solve a problem. Make a check with your Tinker's tools with a DC set by your DM (Easy: 10, Medium: 15, Hard: 20). The item cannot deal damage or directly cause harm to creatures. The item lasts for 1 hour or until its use is completed.
Level 3: Trap Maker
Your knack for traps and sabotage becomes a defining skill. You can craft mechanical traps to hinder or harm your foes. When these require a saving throw or skill check, the DC for this roll is DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier. A trap requires a clear path to its target; a creature behind total cover is unaffected.
Deploying traps: You gain a number of uses equal to your Intelligence modifier + your proficiency bonus, and regain half of the expended uses (rounded down) when you finish a short or all uses on a long rest. Deploying a trap consumes one use as you assemble them on the spot. When you do, you choose a deployment method, a trigger and a Charge. Once deployed, the trap persists for 24 hours, until triggered or retrieved, in which case you regain its use. You can deploy a trap in one of two ways:
- Planting a Trap: As a bonus action, you can plant a trap at a location within your reach. Traps deployed this way have a proximity (when a creature steps on the trap) or timed (after a certain number of rounds or minutes) trigger.
- Throwing a Trap: As an action, you can throw a trap up to 30 feet, triggering it at the end of the turn.
Stealthy Deployment: If a creature does not witness you planting a trap, it must succeed on an Investigation check to find it.
Trap charges: When deploying a trap you choose its trigger (proximity, timed or thrown) and a Charge. Charges often have a damage and a secondary effect. The damage is always equal to one roll of your Sneak attack dice. When a trap is detonated, any creature within a 10ft radius must make a saving throw specified by the charge. On a failure, the full effect of the Charge is applied. On a success, only half the damage and no additional effects are applied. When choosing a charge, you can choose to omit the damage and to just apply the secondary effect on a failure. You can choose the Charges from the Charges table.
| Charge | Damage type | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Demolition | Fire or Bludgeoning | Dexterity. Deals maximum damage to objects and structures, without save |
| Shrapnel | Slashing or Piercing | Dexterity. Deal half the initial damage again at the end of their next turn |
| Shock | Lightning | Dexterity. Loses reaction until end of next turn |
| Freeze | Cold | Dexterity. Movement speed halved until end of next turn |
| Poison | Poison | Constitution. Poisoned condition until end of next turn |
| Deafening | Thunder | Constitution. Deafened condition until end of next turn |
| Launching | Force | Dexterity. Launched 10ft away from charge. Can choose to fail save and be launched 20ft instead |
| Smoke | - | A sphere of smoke that heavily obscures the area. The smoke lasts for 1 minute or until dispersed by a strong wind. |
| Binding | - | Dexterity. Restrained until they escape with a successful Str. (Athletics) or Dex. (Acrobatics) check against your trap DC |
| Adhesive | - | Surface within 10ft radius becomes difficult terrain |
| Blinding (9th level) | Radiant | Constitution. Blinded condition until end of next turn |
| Narcotic (9th level) | - | Constitution. Fall Unconsious for 1 minute, until they take damage or a creature uses an action to wake them |
| Stunning (9th level) | Psychic | Constitution. Creatures that fail the save are Incapacitated until the end of their next turn |
| Disabling (9th level) | - | Constitution. Disables mechanical devices in the radius for 1 minute. Constructs, instead, are incapacitated until the end of their next turn |
| Disrupting (9th level) | - | Constitution. If concentrating on a spell, lose concentration |
Level 9: Calculated Insight
Your expertise with explosives allows you to protect your allies from harm. When a creature you can see within 60 feet of you makes a Dexterity saving throw, you can use your reaction to extend the benefits of your Evasion feature for this effect to a number of creatures of your choice equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of one). Affected creatures must also be within 60 feet of you and able to see or hear you to gain this benefit.
If the save results from the effects of any of your traps, the chosen creatures have advantage on the save as well.
Level 9: Flexible deployment
Your quick fingers gain a new way to deploy traps. You gain the following Cunning strike option.
Sticky Charge (cost 3d6): You sneakily affix a trap to a target as you hit them. Choose a Charge and spend a use of your Trap Maker feature. The trap is affixed to the target, moves with it and can be remotely detonated at the end of any turn as a reaction. Any creature aware of the trap can use an action to remove the trap, in which case it deactivates.
The creature the trap is affixed to has disadvantage on the saving throw for that trap.
Level 13: Magical Charge
You gain the ability to infuse a charge with magical power. You or another creature can cast a spell into the charge. The spell must have a range other than Self, a casting time of 1 action, a duration of Instantaneous and its level cannot exceed half your Rogue level (rounded down).
The spell activates when the charge is triggered. If the spell allows a saving throw or attack roll, it uses the original caster's modifiers. If it affects an area other than a radius, it centers on the trap’s location and you choose the direction. If the spell normally has limited targets, choose that many targets in the charge's radius.
A spell-infused charge costs one use of your Trap maker feature but does not need to be deployed immediately. The infused spell remains dormant until deployed and triggered or for up to 24 hours, after which the Charge deactivates.
Level 13: Improved Trap Crafting
You can now craft traps that have two Charge effects. If both options deal damage, the damage does not stack but you choose the damage type, and the charge will apply both secondary effects. You cannot combine a Spell-Infused Charge with another effect.
Additionally, the effect radius of all Charges is increased by 5 feet.
Level 17: Last Resort
You always keep your Charges at the ready.
Always Ready: When you roll initiative and have no uses of your Trap Maker ability left, you gain 2 uses.
Final Detonation: When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not outright killed, you can choose to deploy any number of uses of your Trap Maker feature you still have in the area around you. You and any creatures of your choice are immune to the effects of these charges.
Art credit
First page top: crutz
Second page right: Victor Adame Minguez
Third page left: Julex Gameplays/Riot Games
